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Dem Congressman: It’s a ‘Privilege’ to be a Millionaire

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During a Monday broadcast of CNN’s “Starting Point With Soledad O’Brien,” Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-NY) stopped by to discuss the difference between the Republican and Democrat approach to the Bush-era tax cuts.

As many Blaze readers know, Republicans want to extend the tax cuts for all Americans whereas Democrats only want to extend the cuts for households making less than $250,000 a year.

Rep. Crowley told the CNN panel that Congress needs to “reach a compromise.”

“I believe that right now what we’re looking for is compromise,” said Rep. Crowley. “We’re hoping our Republican colleagues will come in. Right now if we passed the bill, if you are a sergeant in the military serving overseas in Afghanistan, you have a wife and children back stateside, you will see a $400 increase in your taxes if the Republican Bill would become law.”

“That’s unacceptable for the middle class and working Americans. We need to pass a bill that makes sense for America, not just for the wealthiest 2 percent of this country,” he added.

His interview then took an odd yet predictable turn.

“To be a millionaire in this country, it is the greatest country the world has known. It is a privilege. And I think most people get that. You work hard, you get ahead, make a living and you contribute back to this country and make it a better country [emphasis added],” he said.

[Author’s note: Apologies for the audio delay in the YouTube video. Apparently, CNN felt it wasn’t important to include all of the congressman’s interview and their "official" video leaves out the “privilege” bit. Therefore, we had to hunt down this poorer quality video from the congressman’s YouTube channel.]